Funding of Interregional Project Networks (IPN)

2 call
European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino (EGTC)
Diversity in nature, culture and language characterizes the European Region Tyrol-South TyrolTrentino and its citizens. This European region consists of three mountain areas that share history
and similarities, despite having their own particular characteristics. It is a European region with a
high potential for further development.
In 2011, according to European Parliaments Regulation (EC) No 1082/2006, the EVTZ
Europaregion Tirol-Sdtirol-Trentino respective GECT Euregio Tirolo-Alto Adige-Trentino, from
now on referred to as EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino or EGTC was
established as the first EGTC in Austria, the second one in Italy and the 21st EGTC in Europe. The
EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino is a non-profit legal entity and strives to
promote and facilitate cross-border, transnational and interregional collaboration among its
members within the context of European Integration.
The European region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino unites 1.7 million citizens living in a total area of
26,255 km2, within the two autonomous Italian provinces of Bolzano-South Tyrol and Trentino and
the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. This European region is an interface and a platform where
diverse cultures and mentalities come together to enrich each other. The idea of a united Europe
has prevailed. Chances for further cultural, political and economic integration are pursued. Crossborder collaboration upgrades and strengthens the whole European region by enhancing and
promoting economic growth while preparing for the challenges given by globalization. All important
aspects of life of its citizens are covered by the EGTCs sphere of action: from communication,
culture, education, youth policy, research, and economy, tourism, up to transport policy, health,
nature and energy.
Establishment of the Euregio Science Fund
Article 5 (2)(b)(iv) of the Convention of the EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino
stipulates that research and innovation are areas of cooperation of particular interest for the EGTC.
Article 7 (1)(f) stipulates that the establishment and intensification of networks of knowledge and
excellence is a specific field of action for the EGTC.
On 27 March 2014, the EGTCs Board of Directors and its Assembly decided upon the
establishment of a joint science fund, preceded by a close technical examination by the regional
authorities. The Board of Directors and the Assembly agreed upon the establishment of the Euregio
Science Fund as a direct project of and managed by the EGTC Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino,
according to Article 3 (5) of the EGTCs Rules of Procedure, which stipulates that all costs
associated with the Euregio Science Fund have to be borne by the EGTC and anchored within its
budget.
On 18 November 2015, the EGTCs Board of Directors and its Assembly decided upon the
publication of the second call of the Euregio Science Fund.

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The Euregio Science Fund provides financial support for interregional basic research projects
which fulfil international criteria with respect to scientific quality standards. Proposed projects shall
foster and strengthen networks between scientists and researchers as well as existing research
centres within the European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino and, at best, be the basis for joint
project proposals for EU research programmes.
The goals of the Euregio Science Fund (EGTC) are as follows:
To develop new ideas in various scientific areas of non-profit scientific research
To reach out and establish and / or foster research networks between the 3 regions TyrolSouth Tyrol-Trentino
To fund interregional research networks that involve preferable all 3 regions Tyrol-South
Tyrol-Trentino, present an overarching common goal and discuss a collaborative approach
To foster interregional research networks in the main thematic fields of interregional
cooperation
To support project networks with a project volume of 250.000 Euro up to 500.000 Euro and
a funding period of 24 up to 36 months
To foster and increase international visibility of scientists and researchers from the
European Region Tirol-South Tyrol-Trentino
To give young scientists and researchers an opportunity to improve their knowledge,
professional skills and integration into the scientific community
Application Guidelines1 for Interregional Project Networks (IPN)
2nd Call for Proposals
The Euregio Science Fund is implemented by the EGTC European Region Tyrol-South TyrolTrentino based upon the principles of fairness, transparency and equal treatment. Having consulted
the Scientific Advisory Board, the EGTCs Board of Directors shall decide upon the necessary
directives for the implementation and settlement of payments for all fundable projects in the field of
non-profit-oriented scientific research. Within the framework of the present call for proposals, a total
of 1,4 million euros is available for the funding.
Funding is provided by the EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino. Specific
administrative tasks within this call are delegated to the Austrian Science Fund (FWF):
Administration of the external scientific review of all project proposals provided
The administration of all tasks associated to project parts funded based within the federal
state of Tyrol, in particular funding contract, financial transfers, reporting and audition.
The administration of project parts based within the Autonomous Province of Bolzano-South Tyrol
or the Autonomous Province of Trento, in particular funding contract, financial transfers, reporting
and audition, will be carried out by the EGTC itself or contracted out to one or more service
provider(s) by the EGTC.

Please note that all limits (e.g. on the number of pages, publications, enclosures) specified in these guidelines must be observed.
Please note also that only the English version of the guidelines is the legally binding version for the EGTC / FWF.

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A. What may be applied for?

Interregional project networks are research projects in which scientists and researchers from the
three European regions Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino co-operate in pursuing a common research goal
corresponding to the goals of the EGTC. It is only advisable to apply for such a project if the
preferable three parts of the project are closely integrated so that one part could not be carried
out without the others (see also application processing p.17f). It is expected that all sides contribute
significantly in terms of scientific input. Each region can be represented once in form of a scientific
project part in such an interregional project network.
The project should be in the field of non-profit-oriented scientific research and its duration should be
limited (24 to not more than 36 months). Non-profit-oriented scientific/scholarly research refers to
research whose value is primarily related to the further development of science and research
(scientific work directed at enhancing our understanding of the field).
Any aspects of a research project that go beyond basic research (results of relevance to society, to
the environment or to the economy) may be mentioned, although they play no part in the
assessment of whether the project should be funded.
The EGTC provides 100 percent funding in accordance to the national and European law
regarding the funding of basic research. The overall project volume of an IPN should be within the
scale of 250.000 Euro and 500.000 Euro.
Research acitivities within the IPN shall be performed at all participating partners, the difference
between the largest and the smallest project part (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino) may not be more
than 25 percent of the total costs of the project. This financial correlation will be checked by the
EGTC after the submission of the application.

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B. Who is eligible to apply?

For Tyrol: Any scientist or researcher working in the European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino
who possesses the qualifications, available capacity, and the infrastructure necessary to carry out
the project submitted.
No particular academic title is needed, nor is Austrian citizenship required. However, the project part
must be carried out in Tyrol or based at an Tyrolean research institution. Applications for this type of
projects may only be submitted by individual natural persons. Applications from institutes, institutions
or companies are not permitted.
For South Tyrol and Trentino:
Applications for project parts regarding South Tyrol and Trentino may only be submitted by
research organisations such as university or research institute, irrespective of its legal status
(organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to conduct
fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development and to disseminate their
results by way of teaching, publication or technology transfer which are situated within the territory
of the Autonomous Provinces of South Tyrol and Trento; all profits are reinvested in these activities,
the dissemination of their results or teaching; undertakings that can exert influence upon such an
entity, in the quality of, for example, shareholders or members, shall enjoy no preferential access to
the research capacities of such an entity or to the research results generated by it.
The Research Organisation has to name a scientist or researcher who will lead the project and
possesses the qualifications listed below.

Scientific/Scholarly Demands on the Leaders of the Project Parts

The following criteria are decisive in the assessment of the scientist or researcher's research
qualifications and determine whether a review procedure is initiated:
Number of publications: The applicant's number of publications should correspond to his/her
career to date; however, each applicant must have at least two publications in the five years
prior to submission of the application.
Independence: The applicant's independent contribution to the publication should be visible.
For example, at least one publication listing the applicant as the first author is required in
the Life Sciences category.
Peer review: The publications must have been subjected to a quality assurance procedure
in line with high international standards, meaning that the journals must be listed in the Web
of Science, Scopus or the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). In the case of
monographs, anthologies or other publication types, the peer-review procedure must be
documented on the publisher's website.
International publications: In the natural sciences, life sciences and social sciences, the
majority of the applicant's publications must be in English; in the humanities, the majority of
publications should go beyond German-and Italian speaking countries and be published
outside of Austria and Italy; any exceptions must be justified.

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Internal structure of the IPN:

The partners should nominate an IPN coordinator who then overtakes several tasks in the course
of the administration of the funded projects such as e.g. yearly reporting. It is expected that the role
of the Coordinator comprises at least the following duties:
- Submission of the proposal
- Communication within the IPN
- Supervision of the IPN overall work progress
- Notification to the EGTC regarding facts that could lead to extension of the IPN or the
repayment and reclamation of funds
- Yearly reporting to the EGTC
- Coordination of a consortium agreement among the partners regarding intellectual property
rights on project results and specific responsibilities and liabilities
- All duties which apply for Other beneficiaries
The role of the Other beneficiaries comprises at least the following duties:
- Planning of and working on the own project part in accordance with the guidelines for IPN
- Providing of all requested information to the Coordinator regarding the reporting
- Documentation of spending in accordance with the guidelines
- Notification to the Coordinator and EGTC regarding any fact that could lead to the
extension of the IPN or the repayment and reclamation of funds
- Fulfilling all duties out of the funding contract with the EGTC or FWF and the consortium
agreement

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C. What types of funding may be requested and which costs are eligible?
Only project-specific costs may be requested, i.e. personnel and non-personnel costs that are
essential to carry out the project and that go beyond the resources made available from the research
institutions infrastructure.
Ineligible costs: The EGTC does not finance infrastructure or basic equipment at research
institutions. This category includes all facilities that are required for the normal operations of the
research institution (such as buildings, installations, communication facilities, scientific equipment
considered part of infrastructure, etc.)
No personnel costs may be requested for project leaders (note for Tyrolean partners: applications
as an independent researcher like in FWF Stand alone projects where the principal investigators
salary is to be paid from the funding provided for the project is not possible) .
Within the IPN project no contribution to the indirect costs (overheads) is granted.
Funding for publication costs cannot be requested in IPN applications for this type of research
projects. The EGTC does not provide additional funding for peer-reviewed publications in the
category of IPN. However, publication cost can be financed as running costs in the course of the
funding period of of the project.
Double funding is not permitted. Any other grants relating to the subject of the application that
have been requested from or awarded by the FWF or other funding agencies (e.g. the EU,,
government, ministries, Italian provinces etc.) must be mentioned (see application forms).
For Tyrolean Partners: Applications that are essentially identical may not be submitted in a
different programme of the FWF unless the programme-specific application guidelines explicitly
make an exception to this general rule. The FWFs policies prohibit the conclusion of large-scale
independent work contracts (i.e., exceeding the legally defined limit for marginal part-time
employment) immediately after a contract of employment.
Eligible costs (project specific costs) are personnel costs, equipment costs, material costs,
travel costs, other costs and general costs. Since e.g. for personnel costs and travel costs the
Austrian and Italian law differs, the eligible costs are separately explained for partners from Tyrol
and from South Tyrol and Trentino.
TYROL

SOUTH TYROL AND TRENTINO

1A personnel costs (Tyrol)

1A personnel costs (South Tyrol,

Trentino)
The application should include all persons,
in addition to the staff already available,
who will be required for the proposed
project and and who will work exclusively
or primarely on the proposed project.
The available legal categories of
employment as well as salary scales apply
as they are generally in use at the research
organisation. Part-time employment may
apply.

The application should include all persons, in

addition to the staff already available, who will be
required for the proposed project and who will work
exclusively on the proposed project.
The available legal categories of employment are
contracts of employment for full- or part-time
employees (DV) and reimbursement for work on an
hourly basis (GB). In addition, a part-time contract
of employment (DV 50%, studentische Mitarbeit)
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may be requested for people who have not yet

completed a masters or diploma program (Diplom)
in the relevant subject.
The current FWF salary scale (Personnel Costs
and Salary Scale or, for graduates of medicine in
Austria, Personnel Costs / Salaries for Graduates
of Medical Studies in Austria;

The EGTC grants only additional personnel

costes including an annual increase to
compensate for inflation.

https://www.fwf.ac.at/de/forschungsfoerderung/personal
kostensaetze/

indicates the salaries that may be requested. The

EGTC grants an annual increase to compensate
for inflation; this is applied automatically to all
contracts of employment in stand-alone projects
that are valid when the increase is effected.
The reasoning for the personnel requested should
contain the following:
a description of the nature of each employees
work;
each employees extent of involvement (parttime contracts are permitted). Please note that
it is not permitted to apply for PhD student
positions where the extent of employment is
greater than 75% (which corresponds to 30
hours per week).
For every scientific position requested where the
person to fill the position is known at the time of
application, the following must be submitted: 2
academic curriculum vitae, not exceeding three
pages in length;
lists of all scientific publications 3 from the past
five years;
separate listing of the 10 most important scientific
publications in the researcher's entire career to
date.

2
3

Only academic curricula vitae and publication lists of project employees who are to be financed by the EGTC and/or who are
directly involved with the project (including national research partners) should be included.
Publication lists must include the following information: All authors, complete titles, journal, year and page numbers For each
publication the DOI address (Digital Object Identifier see http://www.doi.org/) or another persistent identifier
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_identifier) should be provided. In addition, the publication should be publicly available for
free (Open Access).

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2 Equipment costs (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino)

Equipment may only be requested if it is specifically required for the project and if it does not
represent part of basic infrastructure. Such infrastructure is considered to include equipment and
components that should be available in a modern research institution in the scientific field in
question in order to permit basic research at an internationally competitive level. Please note that
if such components are requested nonetheless, the EGTC and/or FWF will first examine carefully
whether it is possible to perform topical basic research in such a research environment and how
it was possible to undertake the preliminary experiments related to the project.
The category scientific equipment includes apparatus and instruments, system components,
costs for the use of software required by the project and other durable goods, provided the cost
per item (including VAT) exceeds EUR 1,500 up to a maximum of EUR 24,000. The completed
Equipment data form and an offer from a supplier must be included.
In the case an applicant intends ot buy more expensive scientific equiment, which does not
represent part of basic infrastructure and is essential to the research project, within this call cofinancing by the EGTC may apply up to a maximum of 24.000 Euro in total for all items (including
VAT). The EGTC does not claim any property rights.
For South Tyrol & Trentino only:
Scientific Equipment as described above and financed within this call shall become property of
the Italian research institution, which entitles the reseachers involved in project to use the
equipment.
For the Tyrolean Partner only:
Due to an approved amendment to the Research and Technology Promotion Act, since October
1st 2015 FWF is committed to fundamental changes in its equipment financing practice.
FWF is intensively working on implementing the legal provisions.
In case of an authorization of the IPN, the conditions for equipment financing will be reflected in
the funding agreement.
3 Material costs (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino)
This category encompasses consumables and smaller pieces of equipment where the cost per
item is below EUR 1,500 including VAT.
The calculation of requested material costs should be justified with reference to the time plan, work
plan and experimental plan. Experience from previous projects should be taken into account.
4A Travel costs (Tyrol)

4B Travel costs (South Tyrol, Trentino)

Funding may be requested for project-specific

travel and accommodation, field work, expeditions,
etc. Applicants are to provide a detailed travel
(cost) plan broken down by project participant. This

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Funding may be requested for projectspecific travel and accommodation, field

work, expeditions, etc. Applicants are to
provide a detailed travel (cost) plan broken
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plan must indicate when (in which year of the

project), where, for what purpose and for how long
a specific project member (or members) will be
travelling. Each partner must provide own travel
expenses within the proper project part.
The calculation of travel and accommodation costs
should be based on the federal regulations
governing travel costs (RGV). The RGV rates
applicable to travel in Austria and abroad can be
found on the FWF web site
http://www.fwf.ac.at/fileadmin/files/Dokumente/Downloa
ds/bgbl.pdf

For longer stays, a transparent and appropriate

budget should be prepared; in general, this budget
will be lower than the costs calculated on the basis
of RGV rates.
Travel expenses for researchers from other
Austrian and foreign institutions can only be
granted in exceptional cases and require detailed
justification.
Funding for the presentation of project results at
international conferences should not be requested;
the costs associated with attendance at such
meetings should be covered by the General costs
item (see below point 6).
5

down by project participant. This plan must

indicate when (in which year of the
project), where, for what purpose and for
how long a specific project member (or
members) will be travelling. Each partner
must provide own travel expenses within
the proper project part.
The calculation of travel and
accommodation costs should be based on
the research institutes internal regulations.
Travel expenses for researchers from other
institutions can only be granted in
exceptional cases and require detailed
justification.
Funding for the presentation of project
results at international conferences should
not be requested; the costs associated with
attendance at such meetings should be
covered by the General costs item (see
below point 6).

Other costs (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino)

Independent contracts for work and services (costs for work of clearly defined scope and
content, commissioned to individuals, provided that it is scientifically justifiable and
economical).
Costs that cannot be included under personnel, equipment, materials or travel costs, for
example:
- Coverage of costs for the use of research facilities, e.g. costs incurred due to the projectspecific use of available equipment (project-specific equipment time) or large research
facilities; in any case, offers from potential suppliers must be submitted. Where the costs
exceed EUR 10.000,00 (not including VAT) over the entire term of the project, each offer
must be accompanied by the corresponding calculation basis for costs from the research
institution involved in the project. This calculation must include information on the nature
and scope of the services for which project-specific costs are incurred (according to
internal charging procedures, e.g. based on usage days or hours, or based on the
number and type of measurements/analyses performed, etc.) as well as a confirmation
indicating for that the offer does not include any infrastructure-related costs such as
equipment depreciation, supplementary charges for overhead, costs of research
premises, etc.;

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- costs for laboratory animals required by and used in the project;

- costs for project-specific work carried out outside the applicant's research institution (e.g.
for analysis work performed elsewhere, for interviews, for sample collection, for
preparation of thin slices etc.). Offers should be supplied;
- costs for the disposal of hazardous waste;
- costs for honoraria to test persons.
For the Italian project parts only: the total amount of other costs may not exceed 25 Percent
of each partners total project costs.

6. General costs (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino)

Costs for attendance at conferences, activities to publicise the project (web sites), etc., as well as
smaller, unforeseen costs necessary for the project, such as repairs, student assistance, etc. General
costs should be included in the application forms in the appropriate field and are to be calculated as
5% of the total of other funding requested. No justification for general costs needs to be included in
the written project description, documention of spending is requested.

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D. How should applications be submitted?

Proposals can be submitted to a dedicated call for proposals. All applications received by the
published deadline will be subjected to a formal check by the EGTC.
All parts of the free-form application, the abstracts and the enclosures must be submitted in
11pt type, line spacing 1.5
The application must contain the subsequent information in the electronic version:
One-page academic abstract in English comprising no more than 450 words, or 3,000 characters in
1
the case of electronic applications (DIN A4 format; no formulas or special characters). The academic
abstract will be used to inform potential reviewers about the project. Applicants are therefore asked to
address the following points as concisely as possible: 1) research questions/hypotheses, 2)
scientific/scholarly innovation / originality of the project, 3) methods to be used, and 4) main
researchers to be responsible for the project;
2

One-page abstract for the public relations (PR) work: in English. This abstract is also subject to the
limit of 450 words (DIN A4 format) or 3,000 characters and should contain the following information: 1)
project title, 2) content of research project, 3) hypotheses, 4) methods, and 5) an explanation indicating
what is new and/or special about the project. The language of the PR abstracts should be
comprehensible to non-specialist audiences and contain as few technical/specialist terms as possible;

In one file (including items 3 to 5) (format: PDF; do not use scanned files; no protected files, no
signatures required)):
3

Completed application forms (application form, itemisation of requested funding);

The structured part of the application consists of the application form and supplementary forms. All
required forms must be completed in their entirety. For the application to be legally binding, the EGTC
/ FWF requires a copy of the application forms of the Affirmation of applicant and (Only for Tyrolean
Partner the Affirmation of applicants research institution form) that carries original signatures and, if
requested, an original stamp (seal).

Form with the names (and contact details) of all persons (co-authors) who have made
substantial scientific/scholarly contributions to the application, either in its conception or composition.
A brief description of the nature of each contribution should be included. In cases where no coauthors are involved, it is necessary to indicate this explicitly in the attachment;

A free-form application (DIN A4, printed on one side only, with consecutively numbered pages,
unbound) composed of:

Project description: no more than 20 pages including all tables and figures with no more than
9,000 words (including headings, footnotes, captions, etc.), but not including the table of
contents;

Bibliography 4 relevant to the project, including a list of abbreviations (no more than 5 pages);

Academic curriculum vitae (CV; no more than three pages per person) and a list of

Literature lists must include the following information: All authors, complete titles, journal, year and page numbers. For publications
with more than 20 authors, an "et al." reference can be used.

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publications for each person involved in the project (see also pp. 4 ff.; persons involved in the
project include the applicant, research personnel 5 [where already known 6] to be employed in the
project and funded by the EGTC;

Enclosures, each in a separate file (PDF format).

The project description and the application forms (one original and one on an electronic
medium) should be accompanied by the following enclosures, where applicable:
The additional forms equipment forms (forms for new equipment and forms for existing
equipment financed by the FWF) and forms for international cooperation arrangements
assist the FWF in interpreting the application. They should be completed as required and
included with the enclosures.
Bids/offers for requested equipment (an offer from a supplier for each item requested,
German and Italian language acceptable; electronic version is not obligatory).
Bids/offers for any relevant items requested under Other costs.
Revision of rejected IPN applications
In cases where a IPN is revised and resubmitted after previous rejection by the EGTC the
applicant must indicate that it is a resubmission (e.g. in a footnote) at the beginning of the
free-form proposal.
Applicants resubmitting projects are required to provide the EGTC with an accompanying
letter containing an overview of all changes made in the resubmitted application; this
overview will not be passed on to the reviewers.
In addition, the applicant must include brief responses to each review (with each set of
responses in a separate document). These responses should address the suggestions
and criticism expressed in each review of the previous application and point out the
changes made on that basis. Such responses are not necessary in the case of reviews
written by persons who are to be excluded from the review process for the resubmitted
application. However, such exclusions must be justified appropriately and will also be
counted toward the list of undesired reviewers for the resubmission.
Recommendation: As a rule, new reviewers are also called in to review resubmitted
projects.Therefore, it may be helpful to include brief notes on modifications made as a
direct result of reviewer suggestions in an appropriate form in the project description (i.e.,
in parentheses or footnotes).
In cases where no substantial changes are made in a resubmitted application, the
application may be rejected by the EGTC without review.

Where known project employees completed their medical studies in Austria, the corresponding CV must indicate the curriculum
(Studienplan: N, O, Q, etc.) in which the degree was earned; see also the current version of "Personnel Costs and Salaries
Graduates of Medical Studies in Austria" at http://www.fwf.ac.at/fileadmin/files/Dokumente/Personalkostensaetze/personnel-costs2014-medicine.pdf
Please, note that the FWF policy is only partially applicable for the South Tyrolean and Trentino project parts. Since new project
related personnel at public research institutes in Italy has to be identified by competion announcement (bando di concorso) after
the funding decision is taken

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Further information concerning international cooperation arrangements:

All forms of research collaboration directly related to the project are considered to be cooperation
arrangements. Such arrangements are expected to create added value for the project and must
work to the advantage of all parties involved.
The EGTC assumes that the costs arising from scholarly collaboration at each research institution
will be borne by the respective cooperation partner.
In the course of such arrangements, funds can only be transferred to a cooperation partner
(including partners abroad) in cases where they cover clearly defined and limited work assignments
or services (as mentioned in Section 5) and where such assignments or services are directly
necessary in order to carry out the IPN project.
All cooperation arrangements (international) planned within the proposed project should be detailed
in the free-form application. In the case of individual cooperation arrangements, it is necessary to
specify the persons with whom project members will cooperate as well as the object of the planned
cooperation arrangement(s), i.e. their specific contribution to the project. Each of the planned
international cooperation arrangements on an individual basis should be included with all relevant
information in the "International cooperation arrangements" 7 form.

The application (as listed above) must be provided via electronic email to the EGTC - the latest
by February 29th 2016, 6 pm CET:
E-Mail: research@europaregion.info
(Please note: The applicant will receive an auto-generated email confirming the receipt of the
application. If the Coordinator is an institution from South Tyrol or Trentino which is familiar with the
specific PEC-email-service, the application may also be submitted to
europaregion.euregio@pec.prov.bz.it)
Two hard copies of the following items must be submitted to the EGTC postal adress (date
of postmark the latest 29th of February 2016)
EVTZ Europaregion Tirol-Sdtirol-Trentino / GECT Euregio Tirolo-Alto Adige-Trentino
Drususallee 1 / Viale Druso 1
I-39100 Bozen / I-39100 Bolzano
Including the following:
1 One-page academic project summary in English, no more than 450 words in length (no
formulas or special symbols/characters);
2 Completed application forms including the original signatures and stamps (application
form, itemisation of requested funding)

Only those international cooperation arrangements which are discussed in the free-form project description are to be indicated on
the International cooperation arrangements form.

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Please note: Post hoc improvements / changes to the content of the application are permitted on
the basis of a list of deficiencies provided by the EGTC to the applicants within 10 days (running
days) after the notification via Email through the EGTC. If the problems are not rectified within this
period of time, the EGTCs will reject the application without review.
No signatures are required in the electronic version (originals submitted als PDF files). Files should
be named as specified below and their size kept as small as possible. The total size of all files
submitted on an electronic medium must not exceed 5 MB.
Guidelines for naming files
1. Required files

Academic_abstract.pdf (academic abstract in English)

PR_Abstract_eng.doc (abstract for public relations purposes in English)

Proposal.pdf (consisting of: 1.) completed application forms, 2.) form cost breakdown of each
project part (Tyrol, South Tyrol, Trentino), 3) form naming all co-authors who contributed
substantially with ideas and texts to this application, 4.) free-form application including a projectrelated bibliography, and 5.) academic CVs and publication lists of all persons involved in the
project, plus any collaboration letters)
2. Enclosures (where necessary; see prior page)

Annex_Equipment.pdf (= form[s] for project-specific equipment, in one file)

Annex_Coop.pdf (FWF form[s] for international cooperation arrangements, in one file)
Annex_Revision.pdf/doc (responses to reviews or review excerpts in a separate file for each
review or excerpt: Annex_Revision A pdf/doc/ Annex_Revision B pdf/doc/ eventually also
Annex_Revision C pdf/doc/
Annex_Reviewers.doc (= list of reviewers who should not be contacted)

Applications are reviewed by international reviewers, whose anonymity is ensured by the FWF.
In order to enable this international peer review, applications must be submitted in English.
The project description 8 must address the following points:
1

Scientific aspects
aims (hypotheses or scientific questions):
- relationship to international scientific work in the field (international status of the
research);
- explanation of how the project could break new ground scientifically (innovative aspects);
- importance of the expected results for the discipline (based on the project described);
methods;
work plan, time plan as well as strategies for dissemination of results explaining which task
will be done by each partner;
cooperation arrangements (national and international) clear description of the
collaborative approach among the preferable 3 individual project parts (Tyrol, South Tyrol,

Hyperlinks in the project description or in enclosures to contents, for which a login/password is required, will be disregarded.

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Trentino) describing the aim to achieve the overarching research question and produce
added value
Where ethical issues 9 have to be considered in the proposed research project: All potential
ethical, security-related or regulatory aspects of the proposed research project and the
planned handling of those issues must be discussed in a separate paragraph. In particular,
the benefits and burdens arising from the experiments as well as their effects on the test
subjects/objects should be explained in detail.
Human resources
academic/scholarly qualifications of the researchers involved;
importance of the project for the career development of the participants (project leader and
project staff members).
Broader effects
implications for other branches of science;
effects with implications beyond the specific research field.
Financial aspects (per applicant/research institution Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino)
information on the research institution/s for each individual project part:
- available personnel not financed by the EGTC (usually the project leader and coapplicants);
- available infrastructure.
information on the support requested by each individual research project parts:
- concise justification for the personnel requested (type of position[s], description of nature
of work, length and extent of involvement in the project); concise justification for nonpersonnel costs (equipment, material, travel and other costs). If equipment is requested,
applicants must specify why this does not represent part of the available infrastructure
(see also Point C Eligible costs).

Requirements for academic curricula vitae (CVs) and publication lists

For all researchers involved in the project (i.e. the principal investigator, known researchers on the
project staff to be financed by the EGTC), the following information must be provided:
Academic curriculum vitae (no more than 3 pages per person)
Personal details, address and web site;
Main areas of research;
Description of academic career and positions held to date (with brief description of reasons for any
career breaks);
(where applicable) Highest academic prizes/recognition received (no more than 5 in each of the
following categories: 5 most important invitations to present at academic conferences; 5 most

For orientation purposes, applicants may wish to review the document "Ethics for researchers" published by the European
Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/fp7/89888/ethics-for-researchers_en.pdf) or "The European Code
of Conduct for Research Integrity"
(http://www.esf.org/fileadmin/Public_documents/Publications/Code_Conduct_ResearchIntegrity.pdf). In cases of uncertainty,
researchers can also contact their more experienced colleagues or the person/department responsible for ethical issues at their
respective research institution.

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important academic prizes/awards received; 5 most important peer review activities, editorships
and/or memberships in academic organisations);
(where applicable) Most important research projects funded in the past (no more than 5);10
(where applicable) Names and institutions of key international cooperation partners in the last 5
years.
Publication lists 11
List of all scholarly publications in the last 5 years;
Separate listing of the 10 most important scientific / scholarly publications in the researcher's
entire career to date.

10

11

Please indicate only those (peer-reviewed) research projects in which the applicant is/was the main person responsible for the project
in terms of both planning and execution. For each project, please provide the following information: Project title, funding agency, project
duration (from/to) and amount of funding granted.
Publication lists must include the following information: All authors, complete titles, journal, year and page numbers. For each publication,
either the DOI address (Digital Object Identifier see http://www.doi.org/) or another persistent identifier (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_identifier) should be indicated; for publications with more than 20 authors, an "et al." reference
can be used. In addition, the publications should be freely accessible in line with the FWF's Open Access Policy. This requirement
applies to all publications from IPN projects financed by the EGTC; see http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/research-funding/open-access-policy/

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E. How does the evaluation and decision making on IPN proposals work?
Only completely filled-out applications, submitted with all the necessary enclosures and declarations,
will be considered and handed over by the EGTC to the FWF for further evaluation.
All applications that pass this formal check by EGTC / FWF will be sent to reviewers (as a matter of
principle outside Austria and Italy) nominated by the FWFs Executive Board. The number of reviews
required for a positive decision on funding is two to three.
The evaluation takes into account the following criteria:
1 Scientific/scholarly quality of the proposal with special attention to strengths and weaknesses
2
Approach/methods and feasibility of the proposal with special attention to strengths and
weaknesses (Note: a special focus should be put on the collaborative approach, the integration and
complementarity of the scientific contributions of the different project partners)
3 Research-related qualifications of the researchers involved (based on their academic age) with
special attention to strengths and weaknesses
4 Overall evaluation with regard to key strengths and weaknesses
5 Ethical issues

Application processing
Proposals can be submitted to a dedicated call for proposals via E-mail (see p.13). All applications
received by the published deadline (February 29th 2016, 6 pm CET) will be subjected to a formal
check by the EGTC/ FWF.
Post hoc improvements / changes to the content of the application are permitted on the basis of a
list of deficiencies provided by the EGTC to the applicants within 10 days (running days) after the
notification via Email through the EGTC. If the problems are not rectified within this period of time,
the EGTCs will reject the application without review.
Only completely filled-out applications, submitted with all the necessary enclosures and
declarations, will be considered and handed over by the EGTC to the FWF for further evaluation.
Before the evaluation starts the FWF will check for eligibility of theTyrolean project part leaders. If
positive the FWF will be sent the eligible IPN to reviewers (as a matter of principle outside Austria
and Italy) nominated by the FWFs Executive Board. The number of reviews required for a positive
decision on funding is at least two or a maximum of three depending on the budget size of the
project.
Based on the reviews provided by the peer review process the FWF Board will provide a
recommendation for funding and all project proposals will be assigned to one of the following
categories:
A-Projects: projects rated excellent which can be funded by the EGTC, subject to the
availability of sufficient funds
B-Projects: projects rated very good which can be funded only to a small extent/or not at
all funded by the EGTC;

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C-Projects: projects not fundable by the EGTC.

Please note that the EGTC places high demands on the quality of the projects it funds and thus
predominantly supports projects rated as excellent and very good if sufficient funds are available.
The EGTC has appointed a Scientific Advisory Board consisting of the EGTCs President as well as
one representative of each of the 3 regional administrations and one representative of the scientific
community of each EGTC member region, both appointed by the individual provincial government.
The President of the EGTC European Region Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino takes the chair of the
Scientific Advisory Board and has a decisive vote which may only be exercised in the event of a tie
vote.
The Scientific Advisory Board discusses all evaluated Category A and Category B projects, based
upon the estimation prepared by the Board of the FWF, and proposes a funding recommendation.
The Scientific Advisory Board shall select the scientifically best projects based on the scientific
evaluation.
Should there be several proposals of equally high scientific standards (e.g. in Category A) the
Scientific Advisory Board shall recommend at least one project related to the fields of natural
sciences, technology or life science and medicine and at least one project related to the fields of
humanities, law and social sciences for funding within the context of this call.
Should there be several proposals of equally high scientific standards (e.g. in Category A) the
Scientific Advisory Board shall recommend those project with project parts in all three regions Tyrol,
South Tyrol and Trentino.
Should there be several proposals of equally high scientific standards (e.g. in Category A) with project
parts in Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino the Scientific Advisory Board will take into consideration the
strategic relevance of the project regarding the scientific cooperation within the European Region
Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino.
The final funding decision is taken by the Executive Board of the EGTC European Region TyrolSouth Tyrol-Trentino.

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F. Which further explanations and definitions apply for IPN?

1 Cooperation arrangements
All forms of research collaboration directly related to the project are considered to be cooperation
arrangements.
Such arrangements are expected to create added value for the project and must work to the
advantage of all parties involved.
The EGTC assumes that the costs arising from scholarly collaboration at each research institution
will be borne by the respective cooperation partner.
2 Suggested reviewers
Applicants may include (on paper and in electronic form [Word format]) a list of reviewers who
should not be asked to review the application due to possible conflicts of interest (negative list):
Negative list: Applicants may exclude up to three potential reviewers from the review procedure if
they feel that competition or fundamental differences in ideology would make it difficult for these
persons to judge the applications objectively. If the grounds for exclusion can be verified, the
Executive Board will generally fulfil such requests. The negative list must include a brief justification
for excluding the persons in question.
Reviewers are considered to have a potential conflict of interest if:
they stand to gain professionally, financially or personally from the approval or rejection of the
application;
they have published, cooperated, served on professional boards or other bodies involving
frequent or regular meetings, or worked at the same research institution with the applicant or
any co-applicants (including project employees) in the last five years (see also below);
they have fundamental differences of scientific opinion with the applicant or any co-applicants
(including project employees);
any other close professional or personal ties exist between the reviewers and applicants/coapplicants (including project employees) which may give rise to suspicions of bias or of conflicts
of interest in the eyes of uninvolved third parties.
Please note that the FWFs Executive Board does not accept suggestions for possible reviewers from
applicants. Any such suggestions (i.e. a positive list of reviewers) will be disregarded.
3 Evaluation and reporting during and at the end of the project
Financial and scientific reports have to be provided on a yearly basis. The scientific reports
comprise 1-2 pages and point out the progress of the project. It is obvious that for an IPN there has
to be established a common scientific report.
The financial reporting occurs to the contractual funding partner EGTC or FWF. The applicant has
to prepare and submit a yearly financial report which includes an overview of the expenditures and
the original bills.
Note: All duties regarding evaluation during and at the end of the project will be specified by the
funding contract.

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4 Repayment and Reclamation of Funds and Extension of the IPN and single project parts
The project leader will be required to repay the grant funds paid out plus interest in the amount of
three percentage points over the base interest rate in cases where:
a) the EGTC and/or FWF has been deceived or given incomplete information about significant
matters or circumstances; or
b) the research project is not carried out (or not carried out in due time) at the fault of the grant
recipient; or the grant funds are not used in line with their designated purpose(s)
or terms or conditions intended to ensure the success of the project are not observed at the
fault of the grant recipient, or required reports or records are not submitted.
A cost-neutral extension of the IPN is only possible in exceptional cases upon written request to the
EGTC and for the maximum of one year. The decision regarding the request for cost-neutral
extension will be taken after having heard the EGTCs Scientific Advisory Board /FWF Board.
Additional information
The EGTC would like to draw attention to the fact that applicants are required to comply with all
valid legal provisions (e.g. Austrian or Italian law relating to the equal treatment of disabled
persons) and safety provisions, and to obtain any permits required for their research (e.g. from the
Ethics Commission, the Commission for Animal Experimentation, the Department for the Protection
of Ancient Monuments, or the corresponding authorities abroad).
The general rules of good scientific practice apply from the moment the application is submitted.
This means in particular that

references to information used in the preparation of applications should be given in the form
customary in the relevant research disciplines;
publications must be presented in a manner that makes all results comprehensible;
openness and fairness among researchers is a matter of course and nobody is denied due
recognition for his or her scientific contribution.

Where a breach of these rules is suspected, the case will be investigated by the Scientific Advisory
Board and for Tyrolean applicants, the ombudsman of the Tyrolean research institution responsible
or by the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity.
During the investigation the review procedure will be suspended. Until it develops its own
guidelines, the FWF Executive Board has decided to apply the recommendations of the
Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG) on Professional Self-Regulation in
Science. Relevant information can be found on the DFG web site at
http://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/principles_dfg_funding/good_scientific_practice/index.html
(Document: Proposals for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice)
4 General remarks
Applicants should be aware that in the event that funding is granted, the English summary of the
application as well as the amount of funding provided and (subsequently) the summary of the final
project report will be published on the EGTCs and FWFs web site. The project leader should
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ensure that these summaries are written in such a way that they do not lead to restrictions on any
possible patent applications that might arise from the project. Should this not be possible, two
different versions of the English summaries must be provided: one for the peer review and one for
the EGTCS and FWFs PR activities.
In the presentation and publication of all project results, grant recipients are to comply with the
requirements regarding the acknowledgement of EGTC funding and with the FWF's open access
policy (see https://www.fwf.ac.at/de/forschungsfoerderung/open-access-policy ) and the Italian
Code for conduct of research (see http://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docwebdisplay/docweb/1115480).

JURISDICTION
The funding agreement between the applicant (South Tyrol, Trentino) and the EGTC as well as the
consortium agreement are exclusively governed by Italian law as it is in force for the territory of
South Tyrol. Any dispute arising in connection with this contracts/agreements and which cannot be
resolved outside court, shall fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent court at BolzanoBozen.
The funding agreement between the Tyrolean applicant and the FWF is exclusively governed by
Austrian law. Any disputes arising from claims relating to a funding agreement with the Austrian
Science Fund/FWF shall be settled in an official court. The venue is the competent court in Vienna.
Any disputes which may arise from a suspected infringement of the rules of proper scientific conduct
shall be settled solely through arbitration.

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APPENDIX I: Notes and questions for FWF reviewers of IPN proposals 12

In all of its programmes, the FWF actively supports equal opportunities and equal treatment. The
review of an application must not put the applicant at a disadvantage for non-scientific/non-scholarly
reasons such as age, gender, etc. For example, the assessment of research proposals should not
be based on the applicants actual age, but instead on the individual circumstances relating to the
duration of their scientific/scholarly careers and previous research achievements. The FWF
endeavours to ensure equal opportunities for all applicants and thus takes into consideration any
unavoidable delays in the scientific/scholarly careers of applicants, such as gaps in publication
activity or less time spent abroad (e.g. due to longer qualification periods, time spent raising children,
long-term illness etc.). When preparing your review, please keep in mind that your comments in
Section 1 will be forwarded in their entirety to the applicant (without including your name).
It is the FWFs duty to ensure the best possible use of public-sector funds in the field of basic
research. On the basis of the project application requirements defined by the FWF, 13 reviewers
should be able to provide brief comments on the following aspects of each application.
Section 1 (to be transmitted to the applicant in its entirety):
1 Scientific/scholarly quality of the proposal with special attention to strengths and weaknesses
2 Approach/methods and feasibility of the proposal with special attention to strengths and
weaknesses (Note: a special focus should be put on the collaborative approach, the integration
and complementarity of the scientific contributions of the different project partners)
3 Research-related qualifications of the researchers involved (based on their academic age) with
special attention to strengths and weaknesses
4 Overall evaluation with regard to key strengths and weaknesses
5 Ethical issues
Section 2 (confidential remarks to the FWF)
Other comments intended solely for the FWF

12

13

Further information about the FWFs corporate policy and the relevant application guidelines can be found on the FWFs website at
http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/about-the-fwf/corporate-policy/ and http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/research-funding/fwf-programmes/stand-aloneprojects/.
Formal requirements: A project description no more than 20 pages in length (including tables or figures), a bibliography relevant to the
project and a list of abbreviations (no more than five pages); academic curricula vitae of the project participants (no more than three
pages); (project-related) publication lists of project participants (limited to publications from the past five years).

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